The full mantle. Pretty dull, eh? I'm not sure what is creepier: the cobwebs or the scarily dingy fireplace!
A close up of the cobwebs and the scary spider who lives there.
I decided to decorate for Halloween for the first time in my entire life. I've never been a big Halloween person - I'm not big on scary things, so a scary holiday has no appeal to me. I'd only ever been trick-or-treating a few times in my life, maybe three at most...with the last time being when I was seven. Well, I did get dressed up as a hobo as a teenager, but I don't think we did much trick-or-treating...we toilet-papered a teacher's car instead. Whoo!
Anyway, this year, I got it into my head that maybe I should start decorating for holidays other than Christmas and Fall. (Yes, Autumn is a holiday in this house!) But I had to do it super cheap, since I was not about to spend money on something as annoying as Halloween decor.
This is what I came up with. A cobweb strewn mantle, complete with spider. I wanted some more creepy objects on the mantle, but I was flat out of severed hands and blood of newt.
The cobwebs are old cheesecloth that I had on hand (that stuff ain't easy to make in to cobwebs, although it looks like it would be a cinch...maybe I've just gotten wimpy now I'm in my 30s). The spider is a ring that the cashiers at Dollar General gave to Leif. They're forever giving him stuff for free. It's very annoying until I can use it for free holiday decoration!
I was all giddy and into it as I was decorating the mantle and manhandling the cheesecloth - I was listening to Michael Jackson's Thriller (actually, the video was playing on my computer, but I put that screen to the taskbar because the zombies were creeping me out - hurrah for youtube!) As I was decorating, I couldn't get Mrs Havisham out of my head. You know, the old lady in the dusty cobwebby house in
Charles Dickens' Great Expectations? Well, her house was the model for my mantle. And then I kept thinking, "Pip!" who is the hero in that novel.
Anyway, the giddiness passed very quickly about my halloween decor and so I thought I'd share the tedium of it with you. ta-da!
I'd like to end with a clever quote from Great Expectations, but frankly, I practically fell asleep reading it in grade school and I can't remember a single line.
G'day, then.
Yay for decorating on a budget! I don't like Halloween either. It's not at all important to me and I'm not sure why I dress my kids up. For other people in their lives maybe?
ReplyDeleteVERY amusing entry! But... I'm concerned, you only went trick-or-treating maybe three times in your life? What? Does Leif get to go? I think you may be missing out on tons of fun!
ReplyDeleteOh, nooooo! Halloween is THE BEST holiday! Trick-or-treating, scaring the local kids with the best Halloween house in the neighborhood, carving the perfect jack-o-lantern? And, CANDY!!! We still get plenty of trick-or-treaters in our neighborhood most years. I might just have to set up a faux graveyard, prepare a bowl of cooked spaghetti "brains" and dust off the bloody, severed hand this year to keep 'em coming back for more.
ReplyDeleteI always liked Halloween, Lisa and I usually made up own costumes though. This made it even more fun. I liked walking around at night, meeting neighbors and the other kiddies. I'm not really into the scary stuff. I hope Leif gets some good Halloween memories.
ReplyDeleteHalloween has always been my very favorite; I think it's even more fun as a grown up because the costumes are better. Looking for something to do this Halloween but I don't have any friends yet. Love your decor. Some punch or cider brewing on the stove is always a nice touch - witches' brew!!!!
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